City Hopping: Copenhagen

16th-18th July 2016

Hungover and tired from my birthday night out in Berlin we boarded a train heading for Copenhagen. We felt slightly more human after a McDonald's in Hamburg whilst waiting for a connecting train.

Its a train on a boat!

The train did something we weren't expecting, it boarded a ferry! We were told to sit tight until the train was safely on the ferry and then we had to get off while the ferry was moving. It was a very unexpected surprise and made the journey more interesting. Plus the strong sea breeze woke us up a bit.

Sailing to Denmark

Reunion

The hangover had just about worn off as we arrived into Copenhagen. Just in time to start drinking again. Felix, my Danish friend who I'd first met farming in Bundaberg in 2013, had invited us to stay at his flat. Felix and I had travelled to Cairns after Bundaberg where we met Steve who couldn't resist the temptation of a reunion and had flown out to meet us for a weekend in Denmark. The four us then started on the drinking games.

Quadruple parked

We had a ridiculous amount of shots including some weird Danish liqueur that was absolute disgusting! Steve had to have a tactical vom before we went out.

Lads on tour

We went to a bar where Felix started chatting to a girl and bought a round of drinks. Steve dared me to drink her drink so that we could move on so I did. She didn't want a pint anyway.

Dancing

It was another good night. Felix was off chatting up some other girl (player), Dave was drunk in the corner and I had no idea where Steve was. I was dancing on stage to side of the main dancefloor loving life!

As the sun came up we reunited and got the bus home. Felix gave us his key as he was occupied.

Rosenborg Castle

The next morning non of us really felt like sightseeing but thought we must. It would be stupid to go Copenhagen and not see some of it.

Rundataarn (Round Tower)

The first stop was a 17th century castle in a park and then we walked to the top of the Rundataarn. Felix told us that the reason for the spiralling equestrian staircase was for the king at the time. He was too lazy to walk and so made the horses pull him up 7 stories. Poor horses. We were knackered but the time we got to the top

So steep!

View over Copenhagen

Bridge to Sweden

At the top of the tower there was still the old observatory. You could look through the telescope at a clock. There was a great view over the city and you could also see the massive bridge in the distance that connects Denmark to Sweden.

Old observatory

Central spine of the tower

French Embassy

We continued to explore the city with our tour guide Felix. We walked past the French Embassy where people were laying flowers . It was only a couple of days after the Bastille Day attack.

The famous canal

Hippie town

We talked along canal with the famous multicoloured houses and then head towards the very the interesting neighbourhood of Christiania. I wouldn't have known about this place if it wasn't for Felix. It's a rebel suburb for the homeless and squatters self governed by its own leaders with their own laws. Weed is available freely on the street from vendors with masked faces. They cover up because the police occasionally try to shut it down ever since it was first established in 1971. Its a proper hippie community and it attacks a lot of tourists.

It was a little unnerving at first but it seemed like a very friendly and free community. It's not completely without law as we saw on a sign as we entered. No weapons or hard drugs are allowed and no pictures.

Frederik's Church

We had lunch outside a huge warehouse that had about 30 different food stalls with food from all over the world. I went for a curry. We had a beer in the sun out front before heading back. We had a chilled night with a dominoes. There was talk of another night out but Dave and I just couldn't hack three nights in a row.

We had intended to get the train early the next day but the trains were completely sold out with it being the first few days of the summer holidays. We had to wait until the evening and get an overnight train. It wasn't a sleeper train so it wasn't the most comfortable of journeys. It was a very long journey but eventually we arrived at our next destination, Amsterdam.